Improving dairy cattle welfare: promoting uptake of veterinary advice
Fund
Norman Hayward Fund
Grant
£109,816
Research Period
2014
Area of study
Cattle
Description
Investigator(s): Dr Kristen Reyher, Alison Bard
The project aimed to highlight the challenges faced by herd health advisors and whether Motivational Interviewing (MI), an evidence-based communication tool developed in human medicine, could be used to facilitate better herd health management.
Research findings suggest the MI methodology meets a skills gap in current veterinary communication and meets the needs of both vets and farmers (ultimately benefitting herd health management). A training package was developed as a result; these training have shown that vets can learn and apply MI within herd health consultations and result in more positive farmer responses. In conclusion, MI is a tool which offers the potential to enhance veterinary communication with clients, not just within the context of herd health management but in wider veterinary services.
Watch a presentation by the researchers on this project at the 2017 AWF Discussion ForumhereRead published papers and articles from this research project: